Swimming pool cleaners equipped with an electric power supply for operating the drive motor and/or pump(s) have been used to clean pools for decades. However, it has not been the practice to equip such pool cleaners with a light source to illuminate the surface being cleaned or areas remote from the moving cleaner. It would be desirable to provide a source of light that illuminates the whole pool and to provide illumination visible from areas such as the pool deck or patio adjacent the pool.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an automatic pool cleaner with a light source that will illuminate the pool.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a light-emitting handle for a pool cleaner that provides a high-level of illumination by employing one or more electric light sources that are located above the top of the cleaner's housing and can transmit light in a 360.degree. pattern about the axis of the handle.
A further object of the invention is to provide light source on an automatic pool cleaner as a safety feature that will alert potential bathers that the electrically-powered appliance is operating in the pool.
Another object of the invention to provide an electrically powered light-emitting handle that is shock and impact resistant and safe to operate in a pool that may be occupied by swimmers and bathers.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a light-emitting handle as either original equipment or as a replacement part, that is of rugged construction and that can be economically manufactured for use on a variety of different models of powered pool cleaners.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a method of providing a moving source of submerged light for illuminating the interior of a swimming pool during hours of darkness.
A further object of the invention is to provide a light-emitting element that comprises a replacement part for existing handle assemblies of the type that are attached to the opposite sides of the pool cleaner housing of pool cleaners that are presently being used in the art.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a source of illumination that can be removed from, and activated independently of the pool cleaning apparatus to illuminate the submerged area of a pool.